Tehran prosecutor shuts down oppostion leader's office

Mehdi Karoubi's office was shut down today by the
order of the Prosecutor-General of Tehran, according to Esmail Gerami Moghadam
as cited by ILNA news agency. Mr. Gerami Moghadam added that on Tuesday evening,
officials entered Mr. Karoubi's office and confiscated all documents in the
office. The chief editor of Karoubi's party was also arrested according to Mr.
Gerami Moghadam.

Salam News also reported that Morteza Elviri's home was searched by government
officials. Mr. Elviri, a senior Karoubi aide, is a member of the probe committee
formed by the two opposition leaders, MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi. The
committee is in charge of investigating the legal violations committed against
post-election detainees and victims.

The office of this probe committee was also overtaken by government officials
yesterday and all of its documents were confiscated.

Last week the committee published a name-list of 72 victims killed in the
post-election violence. Government officials, who have only confirmed the death
of 20 and claim the majority of those are actually from government forces, spoke
out against the authenticity of the list and condemned its publication.

In the course of the committee's investigations, Mehdi Karoubi has also
publicized allegations of detainee rape in the recent events. While many
hardliners have repeatedly attacked him for making what they call "baseless"
accusations, Karoubi has posted firsthand testimony of a rape victim and
physical examination reports of a rape victim from a coroner on his party
website. He has also given some documents in this regard to the judiciary.

Mr. Karoubi has already reported that he is under severe pressure from
government forces to stop pressing for swift action in the cases of sexual
assault by government officials. He had repeatedly told that he would not back
down from his efforts to exact justice for these victims.

Mr. Karoubi's party daily, Etemad-e Meli was also shut down last month. The
opposition leader had recently called on protesters of the election outcome to
join the Qods Day events to voice their dissent with the current situation.